Cranial Characters of a Dog-Coyote Hybrid

Abstract

In April, 1941, as my wife and I were driving eastward through the Black Hills of South Dakota, we visited the zoo in Custer State Park and examined the ca'ged animals there. One canid was of a kind unknown to me; as it stood far back in its cage facing us a red ruff of hair on its chest and lower neck was prominent. A ten year old boy who chanced by on his bicycle informed me that this creature was a cross between a caged female coyote and the boy's wire-haired fox terrier. Written request for the skull of the hybrid when it died resulted in receipt of the skull on January 21, 1942. In a letter dated February 16, 1942, E. L. Burns wrote that the hybrid was approximately 10 months old when it died and the offspring of a female coyote 3 years old and a wire-haired fox terrier 5 years old.